Table 1.

Utilization and hospital characteristics.

Hospital Characteristics	Year										Total
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Total No.	630	802	1061	1337	1616	1902	2576	3026	3754	3814	20,518
Hospital characteristics
Urbanization
Metropolitan	314	385	481	607	663	724	928	898	1163	1192	7355
Urban	257	343	484	573	676	881	1349	1846	2280	2271	10,960
Rural	59	74	96	157	277	297	299	282	311	351	2203
Geographical Region
Taipei Metropolitan	270	300	365	517	540	693	923	1153	1473	1516	7750
Northern	93	109	130	171	214	144	189	128	189	163	1530
Central	32	66	115	142	186	247	402	551	679	698	3118
Kaohsiung Metropolitan	112	179	265	322	415	462	528	580	691	716	4270
Southern	86	96	128	146	193	319	449	515	618	606	3156
Eastern	37	52	58	39	68	37	85	99	104	115	694
Referral status
Medical Center	445	587	774	918	1019	1157	1684	1957	2414	2398	13,353
Non-medical center	185	215	287	419	597	745	892	1069	1340	1416	7165